Meizonyx is an extinct genus of megalonychid ground sloth from the Pleistocene of El Salvador and southern Mexico. The type and only species, Meizonyx salvadorensis, was described in 1985 from a mandible found in Barranca del Sisimico and other remains found at Rio Tomayate in El Salvador considered to be Middle Pleistocene in age.[1] Later, in 2021, two partial skeletons were described from Late Pleistocene aged deposits in Sistema Huautla cave in, Oxaca, Mexico, with one of these dating to around 12,562 ± 130 years Before Present. It is considered closely related to Xibalbaonyx.[2] It is thought to be comparable or somewhat greater in size than Megalonyx jeffersonii. It inhabited relatively mountainous areas.[3]
| Meizonyx Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Pilosa |
| Family: | †Megalonychidae |
| Genus: | †Meizonyx Webb & Perrigo, 1985 |
| Species: | †M. salvadorensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Meizonyx salvadorensis Webb & Perrigo, 1985
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See also
editReferences
edit- ^ S. D. Webb and S. C. Perrigo. 1985. New megalonychid sloths from El Salvador. The evolution and ecology of armadillos, sloths, and vermilinguas 113-120
- ^ McDonald, H. Gregory; Arroyo-Cabrales, Joaquín; Alarcón-Durán, Iván; Espinosa-Martínez, Deborah V. (2020-11-16). "First record of Meizonyx salvadorensis (Mammalia: Xenarthra: Pilosa) from the late Pleistocene of Mexico and its evolutionary implications". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (22): 1829–1851. Bibcode:2020JSPal..18.1829M. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1842816. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 231636912.
- ^ McDonald, H. G. 2021. Yukon to the Yucatan: Habitat partitioning in North American Late Pleistocene Ground Sloths (Xenarthra, Pilosa). Journal of Palaeosciences 70: 237–251.